1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus to accommodate a disc cartridge and to load the disc cartridge in a drive, and more particularly, to a loading apparatus which can accommodate a bare disc as well.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been an increase in the use of optical discs, such as Compact Discs (CDs), Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), and Blue Ray Discs (BDs), as an information recording/reproducing media. In general, the optical disc is accommodated in a tray in form of a bare disc and loaded in a drive. The bare disc requires careful handling since a surface of the disc is exposed to the outside. Accordingly, disc cartridges which can prevent damage to the disc and facilitate handling of the disc have been suggested. However, research and development regarding a loading apparatus for accommodating the disc cartridge has not been actively performed.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-146268 discloses an example of the loading apparatus which can accommodate the disc cartridge. Also, Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-149687 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-113553 disclose loading apparatuses which can accommodate both the disc cartridge and the bare disc. Nevertheless, actual use of the apparatuses is difficult due to the complicated structure thereof.